Paul Butterfield & Mike Bloomfield

This session we will cover a couple of white Chicago blues artists who were both born in the early 1940s, who worked together in the 1960s creating some groundbreaking modern electric blues and who died of drug overdoses in the 1980s. These two are harpist Paul Butterfield and guitarist Mike Bloomfield.

1 Born in Chicago – 1965 – PBBB – Tk 1 – 2.55

A year or so older than Charlie Musselwhite, Paul Butterfield was the first white harmonica player to develop a style original and powerful enough to place him amongst the true blues greats. It's impossible to underestimate the importance of the doors Butterfield opened: before he came to prominence, white American musicians treated the blues with cautious respect, afraid of coming off as inauthentic imitators of the black sound and style.

And Michael Bloomfield was one of America's first great white blues guitarists, His expressive, fluid solo lines and prodigious technique graced many other projects — most notably Bob Dylan's earliest electric forays.

Together, the two men cleared the way for white musicians to build upon blues tradition bringing electric Chicago blues to white audiences who'd previously considered acoustic Delta blues the only really genuine article. The initial recordings of the racially integrated first edition of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band — were eclectic, groundbreaking offerings that fused electric blues with rock & roll, psychedelia, jazz, and even Indian classical music.

Paul Butterfield was born December 17, 1942 in Chicago and grew in an integrated area on the city's South Side. His father, a lawyer, and mother, a painter, encouraged Butterfield's musical studies from a young age, and he took flute lessons up through high school. By this time, however, Butterfield was growing interested in the blues music of the South Side and began hitting the area blues clubs in 1957. Butterfield was inspired to take up guitar and harmonica, and he playing together on college campuses around the Midwest. Not long after starting college, he decided to focus all his musical energy on the harmonica, eventually dropping out to pursue music full-time.

Meanwhile, Michael Bernard Bloomfield was born July 28, 1943, into a well-off Jewish family on Chicago's North Side. A shy, awkward loner as a child, he became interested in music through the radio, which gave him a regular source for rockabilly, R&B, and blues. He received his first guitar at his bar mitzvah and he and his friends began sneaking out to hear electric blues in the South Side clubs. The young Bloomfield sometimes jumped on-stage to jam with the musicians - eventually gaining himself session work as a guitarist around the Chicago club scene.

In 1964, Bloomfield was discovered through this session work by producer John Hammond Senior, who signed him to CBS. However, several recordings from 1964 went unreleased as the label wasn't sure how to market a white American blues guitarist. Track from these sessions with harpist Charlie Musselwhite.

2 Feel So Good – July 1964 – Don’t Say – Tk 3 – start at 32 sec - 2.56

While this was going on, Butterfield and guitarist friend Elvin Bishop began making the rounds of the South Side's blues clubs, sitting in whenever they could. They were often the only whites present, but were accepted because of their enthusiasm and skill. In late 1964, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was discovered by producer Paul Rothchild, and after adding lead guitarist Michael Bloomfield, they signed to Elektra and recorded several sessions for a debut album, the results of which were never released. (Rothchild was the house producer for Elektra, responsible for giving the Doors their distinctive sound and also worked with Janis Joplin and Arthur Lee’s Love).

In mid 1965, Butterfield and his band re-entered the studio for a second try at their debut album, but in the meantime, were booked to play that year's Newport Folk Festival. When Bob Dylan saw them play at an urban blues workshop during the festival, he asked them to back him for part of his own set later that evening. This became Dylan's infamous “plugged-in” performance where he was booed and called a traitor, but which shook the folk world. Bloomfield was also a prominent presence on Dylans classic Highway 61 Revisited, also released in 1965

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band eventually released their self-titled debut album later in 1965. The LP caused quite a stir among white blues fans who had never heard electric Chicago-style blues performed by anyone besides British blues-rock groups. Listen out for MBs slide work on this next track…

3 Look Over Yonder Wall – 1965 – PBBB – Tk 11 – 2.23

Butterfield was pushing to expand the band's sound, aided by Bloomfield's growing interest in Eastern music, especially Ravi Shankar. This interest manifested itself on their second album, 1966's East West. The title track was a lengthy instrumental incorporating blues, jazz, rock, psychedelic rock and raga; and it became their signature statement. We will play the last few minutes which feature some of MB’s guitar work.

4 East West – 1966 – East West – Tk 9 – 13.10 – start at 10.45??)

To put this period into perspective, 1966 was also the year that British harpist John Mayall released his own first great album – Bluesbreakers with EC, and we will talk more about this later.
Unfortunately, Mike Bloomfield left the band at the height of its success in 1967, and formed a new group called the Electric Flag. Guitarist Elvin Bishop moved into the lead guitar slot for the band's third album, 1967's The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw (a reference to guitarist Bishop's nickname). This album marked the end of the Butterfield Band's best days;

5 One More Heartache – 1967 – Pigboy Crabshaw – Tk 1 – 3.20

Meanwhile, Bloomfield formed a new band called the Electric Flag which was supposed to build on the innovations of East-West and accordingly featured an expanded lineup complete with a horn section, which allowed the group to add soul music to their laundry list of influences. The Electric Flag debuted at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and issued a debut album, A Long Time Comin', in 1968. This track is from that album, with longtime Chicago friend Nick Gravenites on vocals.

6 Killing Floor – 1967 – Don’t Say – Tk 8 – 4.11

Unfortunately, the band was already disintegrating - rivalries, management problems and drug abuse — all took their toll. Bloomfield himself left the band he'd formed before their album was even released.

He next teamed up with organist Al Kooper, whom he'd played with in the Dylan band, (and who like MB had just been forced out of a band he had helped found – in this case Blood Sweat and Tears). Bloomfield, Kooper and Stephen Stills cut Super Session, a jam-oriented record that spotlighted Bloomfield’s own guitar skills on one half and those of Stephen Stills on the other.

Issued in 1968, it became the best-selling album of Bloomfield's career. Super Session's success led to a sequel, The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, which was recorded over three shows at the Fillmore West in 1968 and released the following year;

He also recorded another live album at the same venue called Live At Bill Graham’s Fillmore West in early 1969, this time with a full band and without Kooper, and we will leave MB with 4 minutes of great slide work from this album, again with Nick Gravenites on vocals.

7 It Takes Time – 1969 – Don’t Say – Tk 14 – 4.07

By this stage however Bloomfield, was growing disenchanted with commercial success, fame and touring and in 1970 at age 27, he effectively retired from high-profile activities.

He made a few albums in the 1970s but his best days were behind him – partly due no doubt to the alcoholism and heroin addiction which made him an unreliable concert presence and slowly cost him some of his longtime musical associations as well as his marriage. Eventually his addiction took its toll - on February 15, 1981, Bloomfield was found dead in his car of a drug overdose; he was only 37.

After Bloomfield left, Butterfield made two more albums, in 1968 and 1969 but they didn’t get the acclaim of his earlier work. His band was still popular enough though to make the bill at Woodstock, and he also took part in Muddy Waters dubbed Fathers and Sons album, which showcased the Chicago giant's influence on the new generation of bluesmen and greatly broadened his audience. Track from the 1969 album Keep on Moving

8 No Amount of Loving – 1969 – Keep On Moving – Tk 2 – 3.14

In 1971 Butterfield broke up his band and parted ways with Elektra and formed a new group which was eventually given the name Better Days. He released an album with that name in 1972. The group featured folk blues couple Geoff and Maria Muldaur who feature on this next track playing slide and fiddle respectively.

9 Baby Please Don’t Go – 1972 – Better Days – Tk 5 – 3.33

While it didn't quite match up to his earliest efforts, it did return him to critical favor. A follow-up, It All Comes Back, was released in 1973 to positive response, and in 1975 he backed Muddy Waters once again on The Woodstock Album, the last LP release ever on Chess.

Butterfield subsequently pursued a solo career, but with little success. By the early 1980s his health was in decline; years of heavy drinking were beginning to catch up to him - he also developed an addiction to heroin. He toured on a limited basis during the mid-'80s, and in 1986 released his final album. On May 4, 1987, Butterfield too died of a drug overdose; he was only 44 years old.